I’m a rebel, ready to grab rights, says Nawaz

BAHAWALPUR: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday said he would accept his unjustified disqualification but won’t let anyone disgrace and rob the vote.

He slammed the trend of “disrespecting the vote” practiced and announced a revolt against the policies practiced during the past 70 years, which caused repeated setbacks. The rights denied to the people would be snatched, he remarked.

Nawaz said every effort had been made to destroy Pakistan in the last 70 years. “I rebel against whatever has been happening during the past 70 years,” he said in his address to a huge rally in Bahawalpur, as the participants chanted the slogan of “Respect the Vote”.

Criticising the political opponents, he said the PML-N was not allowed to work by staging sit-ins and other tactics, but they had resolved major issues of power shortage and launched development projects. "Has any other party built a motorway or power plants in the country?" Nawaz asked the charged crowd.

He said the governance system had been thrown into a disarray during the last 70 years but he, with the help of the people, would not let anyone disrupt the will of the people. Claiming that the days of disrespecting the vote are over, the former prime minister said it would not happen again. Thanking the people of Bahawalpur for the mammoth gathering, Nawaz remarked that it was like a referendum before the elections.

He emphasised the need to change the past policies and promised to introduce new ones to provide justice to the masses. Nawaz said if his party came into power once again after the general elections, he would provide homes to the poor people.

He said the people of Bahawalpur had the right to get the facility of Metro Bus. “I will ask Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to launch the Metro Bus project for Bahawalpur.” The former prime minister said he had been working for a bright future of youth. “I will continue working for a bright future and development of youth,” he said.

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz, in her address, said the Senate chairman’s election would prove to be the drop scene of political turmoil. About the PTI chairman, she said Imran always claimed that no one could buy him and he had never bowed before anyone, but he had not bent but also just surrendered by lying down before Asif Ali Zardari. “He always lies down. He has now surrendered before Zardari,” Maryam remarked.

Imran announced giving 12 senators of his party to Zardari and the entire nation was asking the “Ladla Khan” why he had done so, Maryam remarked. She warned that those involved in tampering with the sanctity of vote would have to cry, adding that such plots would only strengthen Nawaz. Addressing the Supreme Court in connection with the bogus NOC submitted by Imran, she said,” My Lord! We won’t allow regularisation of his house.”